Page 16 of Broken Pregnant Mate
Sand swirls around the center of town, lifting up into the air and settling back down in drifts along the walls. This is the second autumn I’ll go through with the Ambersky pack, and I’ve seen these sandstorms before. They aren’t nearly as bad as they are in the Grayhide territory, but the static electricity can wreak havoc.
I need to get Emaline back to my apartment as soon as possible, get her out of this mess.
We’re both wearing masks, and I tug mine up so it’s fully over my nose, looking over at her and raising my voice to be heard over the sound of the wailing wind. “How does it feel?”
She turns, her green eyes wide above her own mask, looking a bit dazed as she asks, “What?”
“Being a free woman.”
Emaline lets out a short, incredulous laugh that makes her mask puff out a bit. I’m carrying her pack over my shoulder, and for everything she owns, it weighs practically nothing.
She says, “It…I’m still not convinced this is real. It feels like I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning in my cell, and this whole thing is going to end up a dream.”
We still have a lot to talk about, but that can wait. Right now, my first priority is getting her out of this storm. Then I need to focus on getting her some clothes other than these plain scrubs. I want to make sure she’s taken care of.
Before we left, while Emaline was allowed to gather her things, Dorian had crossed his arms and leveled his gaze at me.
“I’m holding you personally responsible for this girl,” he’d said, eyeing me. “She seems harmless enough, but the last thingI need is another problem. You say you know her, and I’m trusting that, but…”
He didn’t have to finish his sentence. I knew what he was going to say—as a newcomer myself, it’s not like Dorian’s trust in me is absolute. Me vouching for Emaline is hardly a step higher than her vouching for herself.
I knew that. But I had to do something to get her out of there. And now, she’s my responsibility.
I don’t have a lot of money, but I have managed to save up during my time here. Doing odd jobs throughout the town always means people are always slipping me random bills and coins. I just clean the general store once a week to pay for my apartment.
“I’m thinking—” I’ve just turned to Emaline, started to ask her about setting up an appointment for a haircut, if she wants one, but she’s gone completely still, her mouth open under her mask, her eyes fixed somewhere up ahead of us.
I stop, registering the look on her face, and follow the line of her gaze through the swirling dust and to a small pack of guys standing at the end of the road, near the entrance to the alleyway. I’ve never seen them before, but even through the sandstorm, I know that they don’t smell like Ambersky.
They don’t smell like Grayhide, either, but rather something outside, something undetermined. It’s a strange kind of stink, the lawlessness of not belonging to a group.
When the tallest man in the center of the group turns and looks at us, his eyes land on Emaline immediately, widening. I catch the look that descends upon his face—hungry. Mean.
He recognized her easily, even with the mask on. He knows her scent, and he follows it in a straight line through thedust, pulling his mask up over his face, bright violet eyes flashing at us through goggles atop the mask.
Without even needing to ask her, I know that this is Vern.
I don’t know what the fuck he’s doing here, in the middle of town, but I know that, given his line of work, Dorian will want nothing to do with him, won’t want him anywhere near the people in this territory, let alone standing right in our town square.
“Emaline,” Vern says, approaching us. His eyes flick to me for a moment, then they land on Emaline again, locking on her as he gets even closer.
Without thinking, I put an arm around her shoulder, drawing her closer to me. I feel her heat, smell her scent washing around me, floral and light.
She’s trembling, shaking like she’s seen a ghost, and it sends a new wave of anger through me. I want to rip this asshole’s face off, hurt him for what he’s done to her. From the way that she’s reacting to him right now, there’s so much more than she told me.
“Hey,” I snap, taking a step forward and situating myself so I’m between them. I meet his eyes, try to communicate with my gaze how much I despise him. “You need to fuck right off.”
I watch a vein in his forehead throb, his eyes darting to the side like he might be able to see right through me to Emaline. As a beta, he’s lower than me in the food chain—a fact that I’m sure he’s hating right now.
“Let me talk to my girlfriend?”
I’m sure he means for it to come out as a statement, but the end curls up into a question, and I grin behind my mask, shaking my head at him.
“Not a chance, pal,” I growl.
“Trust me,” he says, crossing his arms but taking a step back, his voice rising even higher to be heard through the howl of the wind. “You don’t want her. She’sruined, man. Did she tell you how many guys she’s had at once—?”
I snap when I feel Emaline start to shake behind me, her body rocking slightly, and I know that she’s crying.
